Boundaries of Order: Private Property as a Social System [Paperback]

Butler Shaffer (Author), Butler D. Shaffer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2009

Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. 100% Money Back Guarantee.

Product Details

• Paperback: 350 pages
• Publisher: Ludwig von Mises Institute (2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933550163
• ISBN-13: 978-1933550169
• ASIN: B002C00P5G
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,274,991 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Profoundly Subversive, July 7, 2009

By 

Edmond E. Seay III (Brussels, Belgium) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Boundaries of Order: Private Property as a Social System (Paperback)

"Boundaries of Order" is a profoundly subversive look at property and social behavior. Shaffer posits that property, indeed, underpins all such behavior.

Shaffer is a "wraparound" libertarian, so far right he's left, or is it the other way around? In any event, he is vehemently anti-war, anti-state and even anti-institution, arguing that sclerotic institutional bureaucracy is the enemy of liberty and thus ultimately of us all. His notion of "property" far transcends real estate, though, and his discussion over three chapters of "boundary", "claim" and "control" is alone worth the price of the book.

This book carries the potential to enrage across the political spectrum, which to my mind is reason enough to recommend it. It is far more than that, however, and I urge those puzzled by our society's inability to "form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity" to read Shaffer's book.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an excellent introduction to property, the individual, and society, June 29, 2009

By 

Daniel E. Shapiro - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Boundaries of Order: Private Property as a Social System (Paperback)

This penetrating and lucid book explores the nature of "property", it's relation to the individual and to society. Shaffer is clearly a classical liberal, is familiar with the legal system (he's a law professor), and also embraces the ideas of complexity theory. He presents an excellent and compelling philosophical, historical, and scientific argument: by recognizing and respecting property boundaries, society will flourish without the need of a coercive top-down (vertically structured) "command and control" centralized state institution. The resulting "bottom-up" (horizontally structured) society would have orderly network-like qualities that could expand, adapt and change in unpredictable ways.

As a long-time student of the late astrophysicist Andrew J. Galambos (who innovated Volitional Science) I enjoyed his intelligent dance in and around property with hardly a misstep. Occasionally he hints at the deeper significance of property.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Amazing, September 16, 2010

By 

Mykol Kozak - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Boundaries of Order: Private Property as a Social System (Paperback)

Had a great time reading this book.

This book opens you up to the possibilities of order created by individuals and society without the intervention of government imposed order.

Most people think that anarchism means society without whereas, anarchism is really society without government imposed order. Of course, free-market leaning people are not against rules, law, and order, or even against those created by people. But, against a set of rules, law, and order, created by governments as a result of trying to help. These phenomenons will come about by themselves and will be better benefit society because they will be create on the level that is demanded, and not across the board as government structures are formed.